1960 Apache K10 build

[Just-in-credible]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Love it. That engine will look cool.

congrats on your TOTM! clean looking truck you got there!

[The Rocknrod]

It's alright. Thank you for the kind words.

[Just-in-credible]

I decided to paint up the 6.0, just to see how it'd look all cleaned up.

agian...I was questioning my life choices not having an engine hoist for this...I thought I was going to drop an O-ring getting it into my truck, and I dont mean an O-ring in the motor ha ha.

I took it to the folks farm, where we have a blaster. I gave it a quick soda blast to clean off all the old paint and rust. I followed that with two coats of duplicolor engine primer, followed by the duplicolor chevy orange engine enamel. I think it turned out pretty good!

The paint was definitely soft for a day or two, but has since hardened up a ton. I think I nearly killed my poor neighbor when he helped me lift it out of my truck and into my garage when I got home.

Lesson learned...I bought an engine hoist.

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Cleaning and prepping for paint

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primer and paint

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So I just realized I haven't updated this in quite a while. Life just got a bit busy. You know how it goes.

I randomly was driving down the highway to see my parents, and I saw a for sale sign on a small parcel of land. I tossed out a low ball offer, and wouldn't you know it, the guy ripped my arm off. Turns out the back story was that the property belonged to his great uncle, who was a bachelor, and had no immediate next of kin. The uncle passed away, and then a fire came through along the highway in the spring, burnt the entire place to the ground.

Long story short...I now have 10 acres of a blank canvas to build a shop on. I really have way too much stuff to keep operating out of a regular garage. So I kind of shifted gears from building a truck mode to building a shop shop mode. My long range plan is to have something built within the next 5 years. I am thinking maybe a 60'x60'? If any of you have feedback on shop sizes, let me know. Anyhow, that is why the posts have slowed down. I have still been making progress on the build slow and steady, I just need to update what I have been up to!

[350TacoZilla]

I doubt this will be popular advice but I'm use to money being tight so I would build the shop you can reasonably afford now but plan for an addition down the line. I love seeing the guys build 120'x120' dream shops with living quarters as much as the next guy but if you can get anything over maybe 30'x40' on the ground with concrete floor you have a good start, just place it where you can expand type of deal. That and make at least one side have an extra concrete parking pad incase you have something to work on outside that won't fit in the shop that you will eventually fill up.

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So I thought I would take a crack at porting heads on my own. I read a couple different articles about a quick porting job on the 706 castings, so I figured I would give that a try.

This is the article I based my efforts around.

https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/ls...mber-work/amp/

So I got a set of carbide bits and cartridge rolls off Amazon, and went to town. The whole intent was to just unshroud the outside edges of the valves. I used the 6.0 gasket as a template, and scribed a line where the gasket would lie. I made sure I had at least 0.180” clearance between the edge of the valve and the edge of the head at all points in the lift range. This wasn’t too hard to do. I made sure to keep the shape as consistent as I could from cylinder to cylinder. Overall…this was pretty easy. I’ll see if it makes a difference when I put the whole thing together. From most of the research that I did, it should be good for something like 10-15hp.

While I was at it, I chased all of the threads in the head and cleaned everything up all nice.

Next step, lap the valves, put in new springs, and trunion upgrade kit.

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Well, I can tell you one thing. Good heads are expensive…because they are worth it. Getting these junk yard heads cleaned up, and back together has been a lot more work than I expected. Either way, it was an interesting process to do.

I started with engraving the valve number on each valve so I wouldn’t mix them up once they got lapped. I got some lapping compound from the local auto parts store, and got to work. I lightly greased each valve stem, gave the valve seat a light coating of lapping compound, and chucked it in the drill. I tried to keep the time and pressure as even as I could with each valve. I think they seem to have turned out nice. We will see when I get them back together I guess.

I also added new seals and springs while i was at it. I ordered the Comp valve spring kit to match the cam that I will be running.

Pictures are of a before and after on the valve seat.

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new comp springs beside the old ones

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Completed heads

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Started on the trunnion upgrade for the rockers. This was a fairly simple thing to do. I got the kit from comp cams. The new design seems much better than the factory design, as it retains the needle bearings in case of a failure. It also has a snap ring on each end so they really cant walk out. Do I really think failure is that likely? No. It that big of a deal? Probably not. But I feel better knowing that I have one more piece done. For install, I used a socket on each end, and put them in the vise. With a small amount of pressure, they would pop right out. I had a couple different sets of rockers to choose from, so I ended up looking through them all and finding the least worn ones, and using those. I put them in my ultrasonic cleaner for half hour with some purple cleaner, and they came out clean and new looking. When I was inspecting them, I noticed the push rod cups on the rocker varied a lot in wear, even ones that came from the same head. Some were worn significantly more than others. I used the best ones I could find. Installation of the new parts was the reverse of taking the old shaft out. Just make sure to check for free movement once you have it together. If you put too much pressure on them from one side of the other, the shaft will bind. It took a little trial and error to find the sweet spot, but eventually I got a pretty good feel for it.

Pressing old shafts out

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New vs old bearing. Also showing the new snap ring style compared to the stock pressed in style.

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Ready to Rock (see what I did there?)

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In other news, I think I have decided the size of shop I want to build. I'm thinking 40'x60' is about what I want. I am playing with the idea of an enclosed 20' wide lean-to along the long side. Heat being optional on this side. The idea behind this, is that it gets things out of the elements, but not necessarily inside the main working area of the shop, and doesn't necessarily need heat. It keeps things away from snow, rain, dirt and mice. I'll see what budget allows in the spring I guess. Any of you out there with a 40 x 60? how do you like it?

[The Rocknrod]

I had a 30 by 60 at one time. I think a 40 by 60 would be even better.

[Greasy209]

What did you ever decide to do with the ABS system from the Tahoe? I am working on a similar build right now swapping a 1960 Chevy Apache 80 onto a 2006 GMC Topkick chassis with a d-max. My challenge is trying to keep the ABS system but also trying to figure out what computer I need to keep to run the ABS program. Any good write ups or threads that you have seen on these ABS systems?

[Just-in-credible]

Well...I decided it was time to bring this thread back from the dead.

I know i had posted earlier about building a shop. However, life is funny sometimes, and that just didnt work out like i planned. Life got in the way. So I had started searching for some shop space to rent near me, and after months of searching, I finally found a perfect little spot. I got myself all moved in over the weekend, and got back to work on the project! It is a bit of a stretch target, But i would really like to get this thing to move under its own power before the yend of the year.

The big picture plan is to just get it on the road. So I am planning to use as many factory systems from the tahoe as possible for the time being. No engine swap, no headers, no cam swap. Bare minimum to get it moving.

I have watched enough of the youtube builders that all say the same thing. Get your project driving, and it will give you the motivation to keep going. So I want to try to move it under its own power, even if it is just around the block, and I can do all the rest of the fun stuff like cam swaps, 6.0 swap etc over the winter, and I will have more drive.

More to come!

[Getter-Done]

This is Great News

Looking forward to the (More to come)

Do you have a You Tube channel?

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I kinda do, but not really. I got a lot of value from the two guys that did 57’s on a Tahoe frame that put it up on YouTube, so I should probably do the same.

I’ll get my ass in gear and start filming some stuff.

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So...I got myself all settled in, and got to work.

item number one on the list is to get the lift kit installed in the front of this thing. It was a considerable amount of work, but not overly difficult. THe instructions were so so.

I had a few snags along the way, but overall it went pretty smooth. Most of my hang ups were because i just didn’t have the right tools in the new space yet. its incredibly frustrating when all you need is a deep socket, and you can’t do a dozen other things because of that one stupid thing.

On a positive note, one thing I was absolutely amazed at was how well PB blaster works to unstick things. I know this shouldn’t come as real news to anyone. But as an example, I had two things that just fought and fought and fought me. I had to remove the front hub and bearing assembly from the original steering knuckle, and of course, they were both rusted solid. I beat on them for half an hour, and gained absolutely zero progress. The passenger side torsion bar was the same. I absolutely could not get the damn thing to move.

It was getting late, so I figured, this was as goods place as any to stop for the evening. I gave them a really good PB soaking before I left for the evening, and let myself dread removing them the next day.

Well wouldn’t you know it...the same hub that I beat on until I could hardly lift the hammer...literally fell out when I picked the knuckle up. I was shocked. the torsion bar was the same, with a little gentle persuasion, it came right out.

I watched a little YouTube, and apparently liquid wrench is even better? So I might pick some of that up. But I've always just gave stuff a little shot of WD40, and that’s all I ever used.

Anyhow, I got the thing back together, and I’m hoping to take it for a burn here shortly. I still need to torque the front axles together. But overall, I think it is sitting at a pretty good height now.

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old suspension out...

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new suspension in...

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on all fours with the BDS 4.5" suspension lift installed

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I have the new diff with 4.56 gears installed in the front and rear, and was able to take it for a little spin. It drives pretty good with the lift! After getting it back together, I decided to try to remove the VATS before i disconnected everything. I got HP tuners installed, and it wasnt that hard of a process actually. Once I got the computer tuning done, the tear down began...